The Living Field is run by staff at the James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK. We work through outreach, education and shared experience to promote sustainable production of food and other products from the land.

The web site opened in spring 2014 to celebrate 10 years of the Living Field Garden.

We hope you enjoy visiting the site. You will find news and updates of all current activities (Regular Content) and reports of long-running themes and collaborations (Projects and people).

Regular content

New images, articles and opinion pieces are posted frequently under Notes and Images, the most recent listed in the left hand margin.

The News page links to what’s going on in the Living Field project, updates to the web site and matters topical.

The Garden relates the evolving habitats and and living plant exhibits in this centrepiece of the project, created in a corner of the Institute’s farm in 2004.

The Yearrecords the seasonal cycle in the croplands through the quarter days and cross quarter days.

Our About page gives more on the history, aims and funding of the Living Field.

Projects and People

5000 years is a long term project on the innovations that have sustained life in the maritime croplands and more widely since the neolithic. We begin with 5000-Plants – fibres, dyes, weeds, and coming soon – cereals and legumes.

Peopleprofiles collaborations with the Living Field in art and science. including Jean Duncan (archaeology, food, Capsella), Tina Scopa (plant pressing workshops) and Slovenia artist Vida Fakin.

Global field presents an occasional series of articles through Urban-field and Water-field, for example: Inle Lake Burma, Dundee’s waterfront, winter floods in the croplands and the hills around the Parthenon.

Contacts

The Living Field is presently managed by Gladys Wright and Geoff Squire but exists through the efforts of many people. For more information on aims and charitable funding, please see the About page.

For the Living Field project, garden, CD, centre and general enquiries: gladys.wright@hutton.ac.uk

For this web site, The Year, the 5000 Years project: Geoff Squire at geoff.squire@outlook.com or geoff.squire@hutton.ac.uk

Photographs

All images on this site are taken and prepared by the Living Field team unless stated otherwise. Please respect our ownership of these images . The Living Field is funded by charities and is not profit-making.

Photographs on the Welcome page change with the turning of the year. The current images were taken at or around the winter solstice. The panel winter solstice II shows (top left, c’wise) last sunset of the year over the Isla, frosted cereals leaves, fogged field, cold river Tay and cow eating hay (all Living Field), and winter solstice I shows frosted leaf, sunset or polytunnel frames, rose hips, the JHI on a cold dawn and field by the sea in Angus.

Quote at the top of the page is from John Tams’ song ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’.

Living Field images (top of right hand column): current image is of a painting by Slovenian artist Vida Fakin showing a hayrack in a wintry landscape. Click the image to see more of Vida’s work and recollections of her family.

LIVING FIELD IMAGES

Contrasting hayrack and Slovenian landscape : Vida's page on the Living Field (click image) gives more examples of her art

TWITTER

The Living Field project is now connecting through Twitter. @TheLivingfield will post updates on the Garden and its related events and activities. @curvedflatlands will link to current research and debate in sustainability and biodiversity.